Shoebox of Smiles
by warmxice
Summary: When Ryoma is in America, Sakuno decides it's time to clean up his office. :RyoSaku:


Sakuno Ryuzaki sighed as she stared at the mess. Even though her husband was Echizen Ryoma, the world famous tennis star, he was just as much of a slob as any other guy in the world. Since he was in the U.S. for a tournament, she decided that now was the perfect time to clean up his "office".

When the couple had moved in together, Ryoma had somehow convinced Sakuno into letting him have one room in their house (which was not much of a sacrifice due to the fact that the two had more than enough room to spare in their fairly enormous house) devoted to his tennis career which would be referred to as "Ryoma's Office".

"Some office," thought Sakuno as she carefully walked through the room, picking up all the dirty socks and sweatshirts on the floor her husband wore while practicing.

Dumping all the dirty articles of clothing into the laundry basket that she had placed on top of the desk in the room, Sakuno then turned to the ceiling high wooden bookshelves and started to straighten them out. All of the books and magazines that occupied the shelves were about tennis or other famous tennis athletes. However a few, she noticed, were about cats.

Sakuno chuckled at this. Ever since he was a kid it seemed, Ryoma had a secret soft spot for cats.

When she was dusting the top shelf of the bookshelf (which was a hassled to reach, mind you) Sakuno realized that there was something behind the few books on the shelf.

Standing on her tip-toes, she barely managed to fish out a worn out Fila shoe box hidden behind the clutter on the highest shelf. Putting down her duster, Sakuno carefully lifted the lid off the box.

At first, what she saw didn't register in her mind. In fact, it took a few moments for Sakuno to realize what was within the box. But when she did, a smile slowly broke out on her face.

The box carried the many little trinkets Sakuno had given Ryoma over the years, all of which she thought were long gone. A tennis ball keychain she gave him when they first started going out in the beginning of high school, a white handkerchief she had sewn for him for his birthday a number of years back, a wristband she had given him when they had graduated high school, now too worn out to wear.

Sakuno was genuinely amazed. She never knew Ryoma would even think of keeping all these things.

Deciding that cleaning could wait, Sakuno settled herself on the floor leaning her back against the wall with the box in her lap. She slowly picked up each gift and carefully fingered them, remembering the occasion on which she had given Ryoma it.

All the while, the smile on Sakuno's face never faded, though her eyes did get a tad bit misty.

* * *

A few days later Sakuno went downtown to the shopping district. It was the day that Ryoma was to come home and she didn't want to miss his arrival. She walked briskly down the street until she came upon the store she was looking for.

As Sakuno stepped into the store the little bell on top of door chimed. The clerk looked up from the magazine he was reading and brightened upon seeing his frequent customer.

"Ah Sakuno-chan! How are you?"

Sakuno smiled and replied, "Good! It's nice to see you again."

"Ah, yes, yes. Oh, isn't today the day the little champion is coming home?"

Sakuno chuckled. Although Ryoma was a grown man of twenty-eight, he was still considered 'little' by a number of people. Namely Momo-chan (who she and Ryoma still keep in touch with although he is in America now, making his name known as a famous food critic) and Eiji-kun (who is still in Japan and working with Oishi-kun at one of the most well known tennis gear manufacturing companies.)

In fact, the oji-chan who stood behind the counter in front of her had known Ryoma since his junior high days. She wondered if he remembered the time when Ryoma and Ibu-kun had their little 'match' over the last roll of grip tape…

"Sakuno-chan?"

"Ah sorry, well, actually I came here today because of Ryoma. Do you think you could help me…"

* * *

"Tadaima," Ryoma called as he entered his house and flung off his shoes. Putting down his suitcase and tennis gear he walked into the kitchen looking for Sakuno.

As soon as he walked into the kitchen someone crept up behind him and a pair of small, soft hands had covered his eyes.

"Close your eyes," Sakuno giggled.

"You know, Sakuno, what's the point of closing my eyes if your hands are already covering them?" replied Ryoma with an entertained smirk.

"Mou, Ryoma! Just close your eyes and keep them shut!" Ryoma nodded and did as he was told. Sakuno quickly released him walked away, picked something up and then walked back.

He felt her take his left arm and realized she was putting something around his wrist.

"Okay, you can open your eyes!" Sakuno said cheerfully.

As he opened them, Sakuno came into view wearing a very content look. He slowly shifted his gaze to his left wrist and saw he was now wearing a brand new wristband.

"I hope you like it. I realized that you didn't have one when I was cleaning the bookshelves in your office," said Sakuno.

It took a moment for Ryoma to realize what his wife meant. When realization dawned on him, he couldn't help but smile even though he was embarrassed. Not wanting Sakuno to see the blush on his cheeks, he quickly lowered the cap that he was wearing over his eyes.

"You don't like it?" asked Sakuno with a concerned look on her face.

Upon hearing Sakuno's disheartened voice, Ryoma quickly looked up and saw Sakuno's saddening eyes. Before he knew what he was doing Ryoma had pulled her into an embrace.

"No, I love it."

At first surprised by her husband's actions, Sakuno just stood there. When she realized that Ryoma wasn't going to let go until she hugged him back, she wrapped her arms around him and lay her head on his shoulder.

And once again, Sakuno smiled warmly as she closed her eyes and murmured into his shoulder, "Good."

--


End file.
